The present invention relates to a nozzle member in use with a jet shooting device for concentrically shooting forth a jet of liquid, for example, water or a jet of gas, for example, air, toward an object. More particularly, the present invention relates to a nozzle member in use with an anal washer.
FIG. 13 is a plan view showing a conventional jet shooting device or sprayer as proposed by the applicant of the present patent application, and disclosed in Japanese Utility Model Application Laid-Open Publication No. 58-8023 5. This shooting device 1, which is a jet shooting device as developed mainly for washing particularly an anal of a piles patient, is made up of a container 2, which is made of rigid macromolecular material and contains a washing liquid, such as hot water, and a tubular nozzle member 3 coupled with the container 1. The container 1 is shaped like a gourd and opened at one end, and made of flexibly deformable, resilient material. The nozzle member 3 is screwed onto the open end of the container 2, and fastened thereto.
The nozzle member 3 is constructed with a tubular member of which one end 3a is closed and the other end is opened. A jet nozzle 5 is formed in the circumferential surface of the end portion 3a of the nozzle member 3. The nozzle 5 consists of a couple of slender through-holes 6 and 7 apart from each other at a predetermined distance. The through-holes 6 and 7 are formed so that their axial lines 6a and 7a are inclined, and intersect and cross at point P located outside the jet nozzle member 3, as shown in FIG. 14 showing an enlarged, sectional view of a key portion of the nozzle member 3.
To use the jet shooting device 1 thus constructed, the jet nozzle 5 of the nozzle member 3 is set under and in alignment with an object 8 (e.g., anal), as shown in FIG. 14. Then, an operator forcefully grasps and presses the container 1 containing washing medium (hot water at about 40.degree. C., in this instance) to deform it. In turn, the resultant high pressure hot water within the nozzle member 3 is shot from the pair of holes 6 and 7 toward the object. At this time, as indicated by an arrow, a pair of water streams emitted from the holes 6 and 7 contact and cross at point P outside the nozzle member 3, and these water streams interact with each other to be a strip-like jet, which travels while spirally turning. The strip of jet, with improved straight drive, is forcefully projected toward the object 8. When the object 8 is hit with the spirally turning jet strip 9 in this way, the concentration of the jet at the object and the washing power of the jet when it washes the object (anal) are improved over those when the object is shot by the jet with no spiral rotation.
In the above nozzle member, the through-holes 6 and 7 are inclined such that a pair of linear streams of jet medium projected from those holes 6 and 7 cross at point P outside nozzle member 3. When the jets intersect at external point P, the kinetic energy of the jet medium is greatly lost, and consequently the turning force of the spirally travelling jet is remarkably reduced. Finally, the pitch S and the width L of the jet 9 having a strip-like shape and traveling while spirally turning, gradually increases. At the leading end 9a of the jet 9, the jet strip broadly expands, or loses its concentration.
An experiment was conducted by the nozzle member under discussion in the following condition: distance M between the nozzle member surface and the object 8 is 1 m; the diameter of each of the paired holes 6 and 7, 1.2 mm; and pitch between the holes 15 and 16, about 2.0 mm. Under this condition, the container 1 was forcefully grasped to press the contained medium and shoot forth the jet 9 toward the object 8. The result of the experiment showed that the width N of the jet strip 9 was approximately 20 mm at a place of the object 8, and that the jet 9 greatly expanded at the leading end 9a.
The above fact shows that the jet shooting device 1 for shooting forward a washing liquid, which was devised mainly for washing an anal and described above, is incapable of concentrically shooting forth the jet 9 toward the object (anal), and since the turning force of the jet 9 is greatly attenuated, the washing power for the object 8 is reduced. This is one of the major problems of the conventional nozzle member for the jet shooting device.
Another problem arises from the slanted holes 6 and 7 forming the jet nozzle 5 in the nozzle member 3. Those slanted holes cannot be punched by a metal mold. Therefore, it is impossible to form the whole nozzle member 3 including the jet nozzle 5, in one manufacturing step. An additional step to punch the structure must be used for forming the slanted holes 6 and 7. Thus, the conventional nozzle member 3 requires an increased number of manufacturing steps. Further, the punching work is difficult because it must be performed in a slanted state at a predetermined angle. The result is degradation of the production yield, and expensiveness of the manufactured jet shooting device.